If this happens, customers who don’t read the nutrition information carefully may perceive that Nutella is relatively low in calories, sugar and fat, when these numbers would be low due to the small serving size.

Nutella commercials focus on advertising the spread as a quick and healthy option for breakfast, especially for children. However, due to its high amount of sugar, it may not be the best way to start your day.

SUMMARYNutella is a sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread that is popularly consumed in breakfasts and desserts around the world.

Ingredients and Nutrition

Ferrero takes pride in the simple components that make up Nutella.

For example, the company has made an effort to use more sustainable ingredients, including certified sustainable palm oil and cocoa.

Nutella contains the following ingredients:

Sugar: Either beet or refined cane sugar, depending upon where it’s produced. Sugar is its largest component.

Palm oil: A type of vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Palm oilgives the product its trademark creamy texture and spreadability.

Hazelnuts: 100% pure hazelnut paste. Each jar contains the equivalent of around 50 of these sweet nuts.

Cocoa: The majority of the cocoa beans used in Nutella come from Western Africa. They are processed into a fine powder and mixed with the other ingredients to give a chocolatey taste.

Skimmed milk powder: Made by removing water from pasteurized non-fat milk. Powdered milk has a much longer shelf life than regular milk and does not need to be refrigerated.

Soy lecithin:Soy lecithin is an emulsifier, meaning it helps keep ingredients from separating, maintaining the spread’s smooth and uniform texture. It’s a fatty substance derived from soybeans and a common food additive.

Vanillin: A flavor component found naturally in vanilla bean extract. Nutella contains a synthetic form of vanillin.

While Nutella is advertised as a hazelnut spread, sugar is listed first on the ingredient label. This is because sugar is its primary ingredient, comprising 57% of its weight.

Nutella is often advertised as a quick and simple way to make a tasty, kid-friendly breakfast.

Commercials highlight its “simple” and “quality” ingredients, such as hazelnuts and skim milk, but never mention the ingredients that make up the majority of the spread — sugar and fat.

While there is no question that Nutella tastes good, it should not be considered a healthy ingredient.

Loaded With Sugar

Sugar is the main component of Nutella, giving the spread its sweet taste.

A 2-tablespoon (37-gram) serving contains 21 grams of sugar, or about 5 teaspoons.

Shockingly, a serving of Nutella contains more sugar than the same serving size of Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate Rich & Creamy Frosting, which contains 17 grams of sugar (2).

Limiting foods high in added sugar is critical for your health.

In fact, the American Heart Association recommends that women and children consume no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) of added sugar per day, while men should limit their intake to 9 teaspoons (38 grams) (3).

Using this rule, a woman or child would be close to their added sugar limit for the entire day after consuming just 2 tablespoons (37 grams) of Nutella.

Consuming too much added sugar has been linked to a variety of chronic diseases and conditions, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, cognitive decline and even some types of cancers, including esophageal cancer (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).

Plus, added sugar may be one of the driving factors behind the surge in childhood obesity (6Trusted Source).

For these reasons, foods with high amounts of added sugar, such as Nutella, should be kept to a minimum.

High in Fat and Calories

Though the recommended serving size is small, 2 tablespoons (37 grams) of Nutella still pack in 200 calories.

Since Nutella is sweet and creamy, it may be hard for some people to stick to the serving size, making it easy to consume an excessive number of calories from Nutella.

Eating one or two servings of it every day could lead to weight gain over time, especially for a child.

What makes Nutella so calorie-dense is the high amount of fat it contains. After sugar, palm oil is the second most abundant ingredient in Nutella.

While fats are beneficial to health in many ways, consuming too much fat can lead to weight gain.

Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers (7Trusted Source).

This may make Nutella more attractive to shoppers who are trying to avoid products made with lots of artificial or highly processed ingredients.

SUMMARYNutella is high in calories, sugar and fat, all of which could cause health problems over time if consumed in high amounts. It does contain more natural ingredients than some similar products, which may be attractive to consumers.

Don’t Use It as a Substitute for Nut Butter

Nutella is associated with nut butters because it is often referred to as a hazelnut spread.

Although Nutella does contain a small amount of hazelnut paste, it should not be used as a nut butter substitute.

Nut butters, including peanut butter, almond butter and cashew butter, are also high in calories and fat. However, natural nut butters offer far more nutritional benefits than Nutella.

While some nut butters do contain oils and added sugars, natural nut butters only contain nuts and sometimes salt.